North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has overseen the test-fire of submarine-launched cruise missiles, state media reported Monday.
The new Pulhwasal-3-31 strategic cruise missile precisely hit an island target after flying over the East Sea for 7,421 seconds and 7,445 seconds, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, suggesting the test involved two missiles.
Kim stressed Sunday that "the nuclear weaponization of the navy is an urgent task of the times and a core requirement for building the state nuclear strategic force," the KCNA said.
The South Korean military said Sunday it had detected the North's launch of several cruise missiles over waters near the eastern port city of Sinpo, where a shipyard to build a North Korean submarine is located, according to South Korea's News Agency (Yonhap).
In September last year, North Korea unveiled what it claimed was its first tactical nuclear attack submarine capable of carrying out an underwater nuclear attack.
A nuclear-powered submarine is on the list of high-tech weapons that the North's leader vowed to develop during a key party congress in 2021, along with a hypersonic warhead, spy satellites and solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles.
